Macquarie banker apologises for Hitler reference

August 20, 2012 by Henry Benjamin
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The Macquarie Bank director who used Hitler as an example as a leader has apologised for doing so…

In a statement to J-Wire, Michael Hawker said:  “These comments were insensitive and inappropriate, and I apologise unreservedly for them and any offence or hurt they have caused.”

The banker had been addressing business leaders in Sydney last week as reported in yesterday’s J-Wire. 

Strong critics of Hawker’s invocation of Adolf Hitler included federal MP Michael Danby and executive director of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim both welcomed the apology saying “he had done the right thing”.

Danby went one step further saying “If we are ever in Berlin at the same time I will go with him to the Australian War Cemetery and place one rose on each of the graves of the 42 Aussie flyers whi ost their lives in the skies over the city during WWII.”

Peter Wertheim. the executive Director of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry added: “He also phoned ECAJ to make the apology to the community personally.  I have no doubt that his apology is completely sincere.  I also hope that he takes the time to visit the Sydney Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Centre in Melbourne.”

 

 

Comments

One Response to “Macquarie banker apologises for Hitler reference”
  1. Paul Winter says:

    Apologising for unappropriate and insensitive comments is fine as far as they go to assuage hurt feelings. Hawker has NOT stated that he retracts his praise of Hitler as a manager because it was based on erroneous, inhumane and managerially unsound ideologies.

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